Daily Office: Thursday
¶ Matins: Nate Silver peruses two recent polls on the tea-party constituency, calling the results “more interesting than surprising.” (fivethirtyeight; via 3 Quarks Daily)
¶ Lauds: We wonder if Anne Midgette was thinking of our favorite diva, Sondra Radvanovsky, in mind when she penned the parenthesis toward the end of this paragraph. (Washington Post)
¶ Prime: Larry Summers will leave the White House (National Economic Council director) when Larry Summers leaves the White House. Discussion of the matter now is interesting only because it throws the question of his fitness to serve in the first place into high relief.
¶ Tierce: At The Bus Ride, six views of the iPad, only one of them (Cory Doctorow’s) negative. Michael Arrington, at Tech Crunch, is waxes particularly effusive. (The Bus Ride via MetaFilter)
¶ Sext: Choire Sicha reviews the new issue of Architectural Digest — really the only way that such a publication can be borne. Gerard Butler’s not only on the cover but all over it. (The Awl)
¶ Nones: In a reversal of previous policy, Thailand’s Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva has declared a state of emergency in Bangkok. (BBC News) At the LRB, Jonathan Kurlantzick explains that Duncan McCargo’s new book about Thai problems, Tearing Apart the Land: Islam and Legitimacy in Southern Thailand is very aptly titled. It would appear that few Thais sense a genuine urge to hold their country together.
¶ Vespers: Ruth Franklin pokes through the politeness with which we pretend to respect critical responses that are contrary to our own. When critics differ she feels, one is likely be correct, and the other mistaken. We don’t agree, but the argument is an interesting one. (The New Republic; via The Morning News)
¶ Compline: At The Gloss, Elizabeth Spiers ruminates on what genetic testing tells her about her place in her adoptive family. (via kottke.org)